A good night’s sleep is always necessary to recharge our batteries and prepare ourselves for the day to come.

However, just because our bodies may spend six to nine hours resting each night, that doesn’t mean that our brains have stopped working for a second.

While we sleep, our brains and our subconsciouses are capable of taking us for quite a ride — through our dreams.

And just as there are surprising things that can affect the nature of our dreams, there is so much that our subconscious’s are trying to tell us with each and every dream.

Psychotherapist Jeffrey Sumber tells WebMD, “The meaning of our dreams oftentimes relates to things we are needing to understand about ourselves and the world around us.”

And when I saw this exclusive list of important dream symbols that I should never ignore, I was blown away by how much my subconscious was telling me. How could so much be going on while I’m asleep?

Scroll through the list of surprising dream symbols below to see exactly what they mean.

Which of these all-important symbols have you dreamed about? Let us know in the comments!

1. Boxes

Concealment, secrets, and disappointment

If you dream about boxes, your subconscious is trying to reach out to you about concealment. Either you may fear that there is something important that is being hidden from you, or you may be keeping a secret from others around you.

Even more than that, if you open a box in your dream, it may be your way of saying that you are ready to reveal a secret.

And if you look inside the box to find it empty, you are likely experiencing feelings of disappointment in your life.